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deblyn's review against another edition
1.0
3/09: Not loving this. I am actually having a hard time getting through it. I like Lavina's story much better than Julia's. I find Julia a bit pathetic. When she sat in front of her ex-husband and his new lover's house I wanted to jump in the story and smack her! And her husband Klaus?!?! Who'd want him back?!?!?! What a spineless, selfish creep. To sneak out when she was not home and run off with her "best friend" (Some Friend!) , ok I'll stop now.
snance's review against another edition
1.0
The whole plot seemed forced, the characters seemed caricatures, and the "steamy scenes" left me cold. I wouldn't recommend it.
ai_sha02's review against another edition
2.0
Too much psychosis, not enough depth. It's been over a year since I read this and I've forgotten all but that...
That kind of says it all.
That kind of says it all.
bookshy's review
2.0
I've come to realize a lot of books end up in thrift stores for a good reason... This is one of them. More of a moralistic scientific debate than a compelling novel.
ljjohnson8's review
3.0
Two parallel stories of two women of the same family - Lavinia, a young married Irishwoman living in Victorian England and Julia, her great-great-granddaughter, a geneticist working on a Defense Department project in L.A. Both are wronged by their husbands and it's a story of nurture vs nature (among other things) as they fight against/give in to their instincts regarding their betrayals. I was very involved as the stories unfolded, so I don't want to give too much away and ruin it for someone else. I didn't rate it higher because of some little quibbles such as the character of Gabriel, who doesn't seem to serve much point to me except for a good sex scene or two, and how one-sided Lavinia's husband was drawn. But I definitely recommend it nevertheless, as I enjoyed the interesting plotlines, the details about Victorian society, the politics of science and war, etc.
christymmack's review against another edition
1.0
Lost my interest. I didn't even finish, and for me that is saying a lot.
metaphorosis's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews
At the close of the 20th century, Julia Huntington is searching for the genetic basis of serenity - more precisely, why some soldiers suffer post-traumatic stress and some don't. In the 19th century, her ancestor is struggling to find purpose in her life. Both face difficulties in their marriages, and find solace in other men.
I downloaded this free from Tor some years back. I was under the strong impression that it was SFF. I dipped in, didn't care for it, and set it aside. This time, I persevered, but I can't say I cared for the book much more.
I like some romance in my SFF, but this more an SFF sheen on bodice-ripping erotica. Learner is quite a good writer, if one with a very casual attitude toward punctuation. However, I couldn't generate much interest in her subject matter. There's far too much sexual detail for my taste; it's just one of those things that's more interesting to do than read about. I quickly grew tired of heavy-handed references to men's masculinity and women's beauty, and of the idea that a woman groping a man in public is seductive rather than crude. Even in the present day segments, there's some uncomfortable sexism in the views of gender roles and needs.
Learner leans too heavily on pop culture references; I was particularly irritated by coy references to Arnold Schwarzenegger, identified only as 'the Candidate' for governor. She does better in the past, though she's a little too eager to immerse us in the careful research she's clearly done.
The two marital relationships at the core of the story are too overwrought to be really credible, and just not very interesting. It's only Learner's skill as a writer that carried me to the end, but her rejection of standard comma use and the occasional clumsy prose made even that a tenuous journey.
Mostly, though, I was disappointed in the plot. Not only is there no real speculative element, the title Soul has virtually nothing to do with the plot. The element that's meant to be the thematic linchpin - a genetic predisposition to tolerate violence - is essentially just color for the romantic elements. There's a slight mystery element - why 19th century Lavinia killed her husband, but it turns out to be even more trivial than the science. The book never really comes to any conclusions about any of it.
All in all, both not to my taste, and a wasted opportunity to tell an interesting story in any genre.
At the close of the 20th century, Julia Huntington is searching for the genetic basis of serenity - more precisely, why some soldiers suffer post-traumatic stress and some don't. In the 19th century, her ancestor is struggling to find purpose in her life. Both face difficulties in their marriages, and find solace in other men.
I downloaded this free from Tor some years back. I was under the strong impression that it was SFF. I dipped in, didn't care for it, and set it aside. This time, I persevered, but I can't say I cared for the book much more.
I like some romance in my SFF, but this more an SFF sheen on bodice-ripping erotica. Learner is quite a good writer, if one with a very casual attitude toward punctuation. However, I couldn't generate much interest in her subject matter. There's far too much sexual detail for my taste; it's just one of those things that's more interesting to do than read about. I quickly grew tired of heavy-handed references to men's masculinity and women's beauty, and of the idea that a woman groping a man in public is seductive rather than crude. Even in the present day segments, there's some uncomfortable sexism in the views of gender roles and needs.
Learner leans too heavily on pop culture references; I was particularly irritated by coy references to Arnold Schwarzenegger, identified only as 'the Candidate' for governor. She does better in the past, though she's a little too eager to immerse us in the careful research she's clearly done.
The two marital relationships at the core of the story are too overwrought to be really credible, and just not very interesting. It's only Learner's skill as a writer that carried me to the end, but her rejection of standard comma use and the occasional clumsy prose made even that a tenuous journey.
Mostly, though, I was disappointed in the plot. Not only is there no real speculative element, the title Soul has virtually nothing to do with the plot. The element that's meant to be the thematic linchpin - a genetic predisposition to tolerate violence - is essentially just color for the romantic elements. There's a slight mystery element - why 19th century Lavinia killed her husband, but it turns out to be even more trivial than the science. The book never really comes to any conclusions about any of it.
All in all, both not to my taste, and a wasted opportunity to tell an interesting story in any genre.
a_l_deleon's review
2.0
I was hoping that this book would have been much better than it actually was. I respect that the author did research in order to formulate the idea that her two main characters, in different time periods, were genetically prone to violence given the right circumstances. However, I just couldn't buy in to the story line. Both women were intelligent, independent, and prone to making decisions based on logic rather than emotion, so the premise that they emotionally "lost it" (due to a genetic trait) when their respective husbands abandoned them didn't quite fit the picture for me.
cutebookworm's review
4.0
That was such a depressing read. I don't even know how I picked this book up, but it was so upsetting watching one intelligent woman fall apart over her husband, who didn't deserve ANYTHING, and the other strong woman watching her life fall apart because her husband was following society and married her but fell in love with another man. I wanted to cry reading this because it was THAT UPSETTING. I mean, hell, back in the day, if you tried to defy your husband, you were crazy, and nowadays, if your exboyfriend wants to bitchslap your ass and mocks you while doing it, BUT YOU RETAILATE (yay strength!) -- you're seen as crazy/bitch/that shittastic exwife/girlfriend.
HAVE WE NOT PROGRESSED?!
HAVE WE NOT PROGRESSED?!